


Grand Slam

by mambo



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, High School, Jock Steve, M/M, nerd Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 20:57:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8300770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mambo/pseuds/mambo
Summary: Steve is a first baseman who scored three grand slams last season.Bucky is the second-highest scorer on the Scholastic Bowl Team.Yet, somehow Steve's the one who can't get Bucky to see that he exists.(A cute high school AU.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> This came from a Tumblr prompt, but it was cute and I liked it so I posted it by itself. The prompt was: "You’re the school dork and I’m the school jock and fuck you can see where this is going."

Steve sighs and leans against his locker. Bucky Barnes is across the hall, looking great in a Scholastic Bowl t-shirt that clings to his shoulders. It’s sky blue, and while Steve is staring at the back of Bucky’s head, he knows that the shirt will probably really bring out the blue in his dreamy eyes. It’s probably best that Bucky is busy organizing the books in his locker and not noticing Steve at all, because he’s sure he looks pathetic, pining away after a guy who doesn’t seem to remember that he exists.

It’s cruel that whoever places lockers placed Steve’s across the hall from Bucky’s. So close, and yet, so far. It’s the first day of school, and Steve can already tell that it's going to be a long year.

The warning bell rings and Steve grabs his varsity jacket out of his locker, shuts it, and heads for class.

——

There’s only one seat left in the classroom.

And it’s next to Bucky.

“That’s what you get for stopping to flirt with the cheerleaders, Rogers,” Sam says from his seat next to Maria. Sam knows full well that Steve wasn’t flirting with anyone, and is also aware of Steve’s pathetic, unrequited crush on Bucky. If he didn’t know better, he would think that Sam organized this somehow just to mess with him.

Steve glances back at Bucky, who is reading a novel, feet up on the seat that Steve will need to sit on. He looks effortless, gorgeous, and completely unaware that he’s making Steve’s heart beat about ten thousand beats a minute.

“You better get over there,” Maria says with a smirk. “Mr. Phillips will be here any second.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t…?” Steve asks.

Sam raises an eyebrow. “Man, you know I love you, but do you really think I’m gonna give up sitting next to my girlfriend just so you can avoid some uncomfortable smalltalk? Hell no.” He wraps an arm around Maria’s shoulders. Maria raises an eyebrow and he drops the arm with a smile. He leans in and whispers, “Go get your guy, Steve.”

Steve levels Sam with his best, “I am sad face,” which he knows will haunt Sam for at least the length of the class. “That’s cold, Rogers,” Sam says as Steve walks to the other side of the room, heart thumping harder with every step.

When he gets to the table Bucky is at, he clears his throat. Bucky doesn’t look up from his book. “Hi, uh, Bucky?” Bucky does look up this time, but just barely. He doesn’t say anything, so Steve powers on. “That seat, can I sit there?”

“Sure,” Bucky says, slowly lifting his feet off of it — just enough time to let Steve appreciate the way his thighs look in his jeans — and pull them underneath the desk.

“Thanks,” Steve says, sitting down. Bucky sort of grunts, then goes back to his book.

 _Well_ , Steve thinks, _it’s a start._

——

“Hi Bucky!” Steve says the next day voice almost not squeaking as he sits down.

“You know, the seats aren’t assigned,” Bucky says, not looking away from his book. Not sure how to respond, Steve sort of slumps. Bucky looks over his book for a second. “Not that you can’t sit here. But your friends are in this class.”

“I like the view from here,” Steve says, smiling.

Bucky looks back down at the page. “That’s weird,” he says, but if Steve didn’t know better, he’d say that Bucky was smiling a little, too.

——

Two weeks later, Steve gets to class before Bucky. Steve feels a little fidgety, waiting for Bucky to get here, looking up every time the door opens, just to look back down again, disappointed. Sam gives him a meaningful look from across the room. Steve shrugs, sighing.

When Bucky does show up, he hesitates in the doorway, looking like he’s squaring his shoulders before heading over.

(And oh, what nice shoulders they are. Today he’s wearing a faded They Might Be Giants t-shirt, and Steve doesn’t know whether or not it’s ironic but he likes it nonetheless.)

“Hey!” Steve says, smiling up at Bucky.

Bucky doesn’t sit though, he just kind of hovers, arms crossed over his chest. “Why are you sitting here?” he asks.

“Thought we went over this. I like—“

“No, Steve, no. Remember what Phillips said yesterday? Whoever we sit by today is gonna be our partner for the big project.” Steve just stares at Bucky, not really getting it. “And if you sit here, then you’re gonna be _my_ partner.”

Steve’s smile falls. “Do you not want to be partners?”

Bucky shifts, looking uncomfortable. “Don’t _you_ want to be partners with one of your friends?”

“Not really,” Steve says. He takes a breath, and tries to be brave. “I wanna be _your_ partner.”

Bucky fidgets again, not looking Steve in the eye. “I’m really busy right now, with Scholastic Bowl. I can’t, like, adhere to your sports schedule or whatever.”

“I play baseball. The season doesn’t even start until March.”

Bucky looks Steve in the eye, frowns, then unceremoniously drops his backpack onto the table. “Whatever,” he mumbles, slipping into his usual seat.

——

Steve can see Bucky glance over at him as Phillips goes over the instructions for the project. It’s kind of weird — while Bucky’s opened up in the past few weeks, he’s usually a little shiftier than that. Steve feels himself blushing, nervous both about the attention, and about Phillips’ instructions. It’s obvious that they’ll need to work with each other outside of class. Steve is torn between imagining Bucky looking comfy and cozy on his couch in holy socks, drinking a root beer and smiling, and imagining Bucky looking deadly miserable and cornered as Steve tries to talk to him at the local library while packs of acquaintances from school whisper about them.

By the time class ends, Steve has kind of imagined himself into a tizzy, and is surprised when Bucky asks, “So your place or mine?”

“What?”

“To do the project. Do you want to meet at your place or mine?”

Half of Steve wants to say Bucky’s place, because he’d probably be more comfortable there, but he just picked up the fancy root beer in bottles, so he says, “We can meet at my place?”

Bucky nods. “Okay, sure. We could… this afternoon?”

Steve needs to keep it cool.

“Yeah, totally. I’m not busy.”

“Cool,” Bucky says.

“Cool,” Steve responds.

They just look at each other for a long second.

“Okay, well, I’ll meet you outside of school,” Bucky says, speaking quickly as he grabs his stuff and stands up. “Bye!” he says as he practically sprints out of the room.

Steve watches him leave, biting his lip.

It’s not a date or anything, but they are hanging out after school.

——

“Do you want another root beer?” Steve asks.

“No thanks,” Bucky says. “Think we’ll be done pretty soon.”

Steve frowns. “You sure?”

Bucky looks up from his notebook. “Yeah, we’ve pretty much gone through everything…” He looks back down. “We work pretty well together.”

Bubbles rise in Steve’s stomach, and it’s not from the root beer. He clears his throat. “Yeah, I was hoping we’d get a work together at some point.”

“Why’s that?” Bucky asks as he writes something down.

“I saw you in the debate finals last year. My friend Wanda is on the team.”

“I know Wanda,” Bucky says.

“Yeah, and you were… really passionate, convincing. It made me want to get to know you.”

All of a sudden, Bucky drops his pencil on the table. He pushes himself back in his chair, crosses his arms, and looks at Steve with a pissy glare. “Okay, what is it?” he asks.

“What?” Steve asks, taken aback.

“Is there something you want from me? You’re a first baseman; you scored _three_ grand slams last season. I’m the second-highest scorer on Scholastic Bowl. Do you want me to do your homework for you? Or is this a _Carrie_ thing? So what is this, Steve? What do you want?”

“I wanna go on a date!” Steve says, spitting the words out as quick as he can. He shuts his eyes, wincing at the dumb way he said it.

When he opens them again, Bucky’s posture is less defensive, and he’s blushing a little. “Um, uh," he stutters, not looking Steve in the eye. Then, he clears his throat, squares his shoulders, and looks back up. "Can I get that root beer now?” he asks, still blushing.

“Totally,” Steve says, thinking this is a pretty good sign.

——

**Three Months Later**

——

“What I’m saying is that _all_ teams should get varsity jackets,” Bucky says, sitting on their shared table before class, wearing Steve’s jacket. Steve rolls his eyes, but he looks up at his boyfriend with big, smitten eyes anyway. “Because I look _real_ good in this.” Sam snorts. “Ask Steve!” Bucky says.

“I’m not asking your boyfriend, because I already know what he’s going to say.”

“Do not,” Steve says.

“You’re gonna say that he’s the most handsome guy in the whole world.”

Steve goes red. “It’s because he is!”

Sam and Maria laugh while Bucky slips off the table and into Steve’s lap. “Nah, I ain’t the most handsome. _You_ are.” He boops Steve on the nose, and Steve reaches up to kiss his finger just as Phillips walks into the room.

“Teenagers,” he says, frowning, before he clears his throats. “Clear up those hormones and turn to page forty-five. It’s time to study World War II, and spoiler alert: it will suck all of the sexual tension out of this room.”

“Not likely,” Bucky says, reaching over and holding Steve’s hand beneath the desk.

Nope. Not likely at all.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, consider checking my Tumblr out: [whtaft](www.whtaft.tumblr.com).


End file.
